Briery Creek 9-1-2011

I’ll keep this short and sweet. Headed out to Briery Creek this morning for the first day of my delayed vacation. Hit the water at 7am (a little later than I had hoped) but fished until 2:15pm.

Started with a large chartreuse and white buzzbait and that got em going. Caught 5 LMB ranging from 10″ to 15.5″ in the first 75mins. Landed 2 more LMB on a wacky rigged 5″ senko in the next 15 mins. From about 8:30am until about 11:30am-ish, things got REALLY cold. I wasn’t spooking, hooking up with, or seeing any fish.

Somewhere around there, I started to find a few and realized the bass in the lilies were also holding to other cover (lay downs); lure of choice for a lily field was none other than a frog, Capt Ken’s Clone. I had a lot of short strikes today and had 4 bass take my frog, fight for 5 to 10 seconds and somehow manage to come unbuttoned.

Around 1:30pm, found some of the ideal “pattern” for the day and threw my clone over. While retrieving I got a huge blowup, so I let it sit. Another blowup but it was a good 2 feet from my clone. I reel it in and wait for about 60 seconds and then throw back over. This time I get a solid hit and I set the hook. Thank goodness this time the fish didn’t come unbuttoned and I land the largest fish of the day, a hair over 18″ and nice and fat.

This is the most success I’ve ever had at Briery; I’ve been skunked several times here. I had my daughter Thursday nigh through Sunday, then Monday is the Salt, Tuesday I’m chasing Snakeheads, and Wednesday is a half day of guided fishing on Mossy Creek!

BTW, Briery in the middle of the week is FANTASTIC. There were only 3 trucks at the ramp when I got there, and I really only saw one other boat all day.

All my pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/102799211425946575386/20110911BrieryCreek#

Briery Creek 9-5-2010

I accidentally set the alarm for PM instead of AM but managed to wake myself up at 5:30. Rushed out the door and was on the water by 7:15 at the 701 ramp. There was lots of steam coming off the water as the air temps were about 53 and the water temps about 80 degrees.

As soon as I hit the water, I see baitfish hitting the surface EVERYWHERE. They are in very large schools. I assume something is chasing them so I start casting anything and everything around the fish. Chase them around for about an hour and manage to land 1 skinny 12″ LMB. I finally realize that the bait fish are hitting dead mosquitos that are literally covering the entire surface of the lake.

It was a tough day after that. I called it quits at 1pm. I fished all the lilies I could find, significant structure, etc but it was just a slow day. I only managed 5 strikes, 2 of which were landed. 2 strikes were on the frog, one I just plain missed and one I turned my head to look the other way for just a second. The largest fish of the day never had the hook set well, so it popped right out the second he got a little slack line. I did get a good look at it and it was a 15″ or so, but SKINNY just like the first one.

I’d love to go back and try Briery again, but probably would like someone who’s more familiar with it to provide some guidance. I’m not proficient at fishing deep and I’m assuming this is where they were holding.

GPX Track

Belle Isle Lunch Excursion 8-24-2010

Met up with a buddy of mine from KBF, Chuck, and decided to head out to Belle Isle to do some lunch time fishing. There is a large, clear, lake that’s at the western most section of the island.

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I think Chuck stated it’s an old rock quarry, so the lake is very deep. The drop offs from the banks are severe, which made finding places to stand and fish a little difficult. There are several laydowns around the lake as well as a boardwalk/walking path on one side. I took only 2 rods and 2 baits: the SPRO Bronzeye in the new color and a 4″ watermelon Yum Dinger rigged wacky. I find a bank that I can scale down that has a laydown near, so I carefully make my way down the side and get to casting.

The first laydown is large and covers a LOT of area, and runs perpendicular to the bank. There is also about 8 feet of thick vegetation growing out from the bank, so if I manage to hook into a fish, I’ll have to navigate it around/in/out of the laydown and then pull it through the salad. I begin casting the frog first and after around 10 or so casts, I switch over to the Dinger. A few casts working the bait back to me with no bites, I decide on my next cast to dead stick it and see what happens. I cast my bait out short of most of the laydown, let out line so it’ll get to the bottom and wait. After about 30 seconds of waiting, I notice my line moving. I felt no tap but the line is definitely moving so I set the hook. FISH ON!!! I didn’t have the laydown to content with, but had to pull the fish through the salad. It came up with a bunch of vegetation, but I landed a ~12″ largemouth. I catch and release (and manage to get my work clothes dirty) and move on to the next spot.

I move to the western most point on the lake and there is a series of laydowns that look promising (I see a few bobbers in the limbs). Again, I begin with the frog but get no action. I throw the Dinger around several of the laydowns with no action. I decide to make one last cast and then move on. This time I decide to cast 20 yards beyond the laydown and let the stickbait sink and soak. After about 5 or 10 seconds of resting on the bottom, I get the familiar tap-tap on the line so I set the hook. FISH ON!!!! Unfortunately this time I have to contend with several laydowns and the fish makes a bee line for them. I’m able to maneuver it in and out of a few of the laydowns but it eventually gets wrapped around a trunk and breaks me off. This was a sizable fish so I’m a little disappointed, but it was expected given my position and the number of laydowns. I am impressed by the Yo-Zuri Hybrid 6 lb test I used as a leader. It withstood most of that battle, fighting around several laydowns before finally giving in at my snell knot. I decide to move on, but not before tying on a new finesse hook.

I climb down the bank near the pier at the eastern most point of the lake and begin casting my Dinger again. After about 5 minutes of numerous casts, I finally get another tap-tap and I set the hook and land a ~14″ LMB. Time is running short and I needed to head back to work, however, I wanted to cast a few times into the James since it’s running so low. I head over to the rocks and start making casts.

While walking the rocks, I spot a nice eddy that has the distinguishable silhouette and tail of a black bass. I immediately hit the ground hoping the fish didn’t see me. I yell over to Chuck that I see a bass. From my knees, I cast my Dinger into the eddy and within 5 seconds I get a tap-tap and I set the hook. FISH ON!!!! I yell over to Chuck, “I GOT HIM!”. I rise to my feet and get into my fighting stance, this fish has some size, probably a 16″-er!!! Unfortunately, he takes one leap and my hook is thrown. I get a look at him as he took a leap and it was definitely a largemouth. I turn around to complain to Chuck about losing the fish.

After my complaining I turn back to the eddy to see if the LMB is still there and notice 2 large gars have made their way into this tiny eddy, both about 2 foot long. I can’t believe this tiny eddy had a LMB and now 2 gars in there. I know there’s no way I’ll catch one of them, but I decide to cast my Dinger at them and see what they’ll do. Unexpectedly, one of the gars turns to my stickbait and takes a bite. I attempt to set the hook but there’s no way that hook is going to penetrate the rock hard mouth of the gar. It opens its mouth and scoots off. Funny…

I head back to work after a much needed break from coding an Android application. The Belle Island lake is awesome, I just need to figure out how to get my kayak there…